Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland: Sees Bill Clinton As Future 'First Laddie' In White House

MARIETTA, Ohio (TDB) -- If a female wins the U.S. presidency, what the heck will be the courtesy term for her spouse? Ohio's governor seems to have an idea. He barnstormed around the state with Bill Clinton as the two tried to drum up support for Hillary ahead of the March 4 primary. And Ted Strickland is here on YouTUBE introducing the former president under a new title -- "First Laddie." It's a punster's play on words, of course. But it does raise a matter of linguistic uncertainty. For obvious reasons, First Lady wouldn't do the job. And phrases such as First Gentleman, First Hubby, First Spouse, First Old Man or First One just don't seem to have the right feel -- indeed "first one" opens the door to all kinds of problems. And gentleman has a double meaning in the English language. One is a person of good breeding; the other is a valet or butler or personal servant, as in "gentleman's gentleman."

Bill Clinton suggested "first laddie" last September when he was on Oprah's show. The former president was punning when he quipped:

"My Scottish friends say I should be called first laddie because it's the closest thing to first lady."

A lad is a boy or youth in England, and a laddie is a young man in Scotland. A lady is a woman of good standng or social position. In Great Britain, however, it is the proper title of a female whose husband is higher in rank than a knight or baronet, or a woman who has proprietary rights over a manor. Oliver Goldsmith, an English poet and dramatist who died in 1774, had this to say on the knack of being a gentleman:

"To make a fine gentleman, several trades are required, but chiefly a barber."

Mrs. Huckabee Defends Her Hubby: Bill Clinton Learned Foreign Policy At IHOP

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- Janet Huckabee is standin' by her man. She allows former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee may come up a bit light in the foreign policy experience department. But so did some other governors who wound up in the White House. "Ronald Reagan didn't have any foreign policy experience. Bill Clinton, they said the only experience he had in foreign policy was going to IHOP, the International Pancake House."

Pardon me, Mrs. Huckabee. That would be the International House of Pancakes. Her implication is that Mike is just as competent as Bill -- but she doesn't note that Bill spent some time in Britain studying at Oxford University, and that he travelled the Continent. Those are blanks on Huckabee's resume. The full course of the would-be First Lady's interview with the Iowa Independent is here. She says her husband can hire a good staff to help him on the foreign policy front. She also has some interesting things to say about abortion -- that women should not have to go to jail if laws are changed and abortion is banned.

Bill Clinton On Hillary's Iraq Plan: Some U.S. Troops Must Remain As Peacekeepers

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- While campaigning for Sen. Hillary Clinton in Iowa, former president Bill Clinton said he believes the U.S. should end its military involvement in Iraq. He pledged that his spouse would pull most American troops from the country, but also favors leaving a "small number" behind to separate the Kurds and Turks in northern Iraq. The remaining U.S. force would be assigned peacekeeping duties, and Bill Clinton's comment seemed to open the door to some kind of long-term military presence on Iraqi soil during a Hillary Clinton presidency.

Bill Richardson sees Hillary Clinton flip-flopping on Iraq as the Jan. 3 Iowa caucuses rapidly approach. Richardson contends she is trying to wiggle out of hawkish statements, and that she has no intention of ending U.S. involvement any time soon. Bill Clinton offered the "small number" description after Richardson's blast. The former president's words were captured by Kirk Klocke, news editor at the Charles City Press, a newspaper that serves the city of 7,800 in northern Iowa. He wrote that Bill Clinton made it clear Hillary would leave a military contingent on the ground in Iraq:

"However, he said if elected president, Sen. Clinton plans to keep some troops in Iraq to maintain peace. 'The presence of a small number of Americans there reduces the chance that they (the Kurds and Turks) will go to war with each other again.'"

Bill Clinton said he favored withdrawing most forces from Iraq.

"The longer we stay now, the longer we will delay the day when Sunni and the Shia will have to make their own agreement to hold their country together or not. As long as they think we're going to be there, they can just keep trying to negotiate for a better deal."

Hillary Clinton has talked about leaving what has been called a residual force of America troops in Iraq. Those comments made news around the world earlier this year. But it is not clear what she actually intended to do so if she reaches the White House. Her husband seems to have settled the issue -- some U.S. forces would remain, there would be no timetable for withdrawal, and the military mission would not be described as a permanent presence.

Any Coincidence? 'Bikini Wax' and 'Comeback Kid' (Bill Clinton) Enter OED Today

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- Wonder if the Oxford dons/lexicographers who keep track of the mother tongue see any irony? The Oxford English Dictionary updated its online version today with 2,700 new words, including ''comeback kid," and "bikini wax." Thus, President Clinton's political nickname has entered the lexicographic Big Leagues alongside a word coined to describe the action of gussying up a human female's nether region.

Somehow, it seems an appropriate action, considering the former ladiesman-in-chief's undisputed interest in such anatomical destinations.

Other words that went in this week are "chill pill," "islamofacism," "sleeper cell" and "scratch and sniff.''

Jesse Sheidlower, the editor in chief, said "Our editors are constantly going through the entire alphabet bit by bit, writing new entries and revising existing ones in order to stay current. It's a massive job and will take years, if not decades, to complete -- at which point we'll start over again."

The dictionary publisher's announcement of the latest updates points out that the English language changes and evolves constantly. CNN's news archives from 2001 recount how Clinton's New Hampshire presidential primary showing placed him on the road to the White House. As governor of Arkansas, Clinton was battling allegations of marital infidelity. He won the primary and earned his sobriquet.

Bill Clinton: Honored By Ohio Museum His Administration Opposed

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- A top Clinton-administration appointee from the National Park Service told Congress in 2000 that earmarking $16 million in federal funds for the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Cincinnati could stress the agency's budget. He warned the appropriation would divert money for badly needed deferred work at other sites across the country. Now the museum -- which got the money from Congress anyway and depends on government subsidies -- plans to give former President Bill Clinton a major award later this year.

Clinton visits Cincinnati today on a different mission -- a fundraiser for his wife Hillary's 2008 presidential campaign. News of the Freedom Center award broke just ahead of the fundraiser.

What hasn't been mentioned is that Clinton was completing his last year in office when his administration explicitly told Congress the Freedom Center would "compete directly for funding" with the National Park Service. That agency was cash-strapped and could not get enough from Congress to maintain and improve its own properties. The Clintonites wanted to focus money on those priorities.

How much was needed? According to the White House, NPS estimated the deferred maintenance backlog was nearly $4.9 billion, with about $2.7 billion related to roads, bridges, and transportation projects. The current White House recommended action to eliminate the NPS deferred maintenance backlog over five years, and allocated $440 million for non-road projects, a 30-percent increase over 2001

But that all seems forgotten today. It looks like the museum is making an effort to cash in on the popularity of Democrat Clinton and former Republican President George H.W. Bush, who both are slated to become recipients of the International Freedom Conductor Award later this year in Cincinnati. But Clinton's administration expressed clear concerns before Senate and House panels in March and May 2000 that providing federal financial assistance to the Freedom Center could suck money away from the national park system, the nation's crown jewels.

"Mr. Chairman, to emphasize again, our opposition to the legislation is not a judgment about the Freedom Center. The Department recently testified against two other bills that authorized funding for two worthy institutions that are not part of the National Park System -- the Palace of Governors in New Mexico and the Lincoln Interpretive Center in Illinois. We opposed those bills, as we oppose this one, because unless there are unexpected substantial increases in funding for the National Park Service in coming years, funding for institutions that are not part of the National Park System will compete directly with funding that the NPS needs to manage units of the National Park System. That includes funding for the long and costly list of deferred construction projects in our national parks."

That was from Denis P. Galvin, deputy director of the National Park Service. His testimony is HERE and HERE. Below is a bit of what the Freedom Center -- which cost $110 million to build on the Ohio River in downtown Cincinnati and includes $41 million in public funds -- has to say about prior recipients of its Freedom Conductor awards:

"Modeled after the prestigious Nobel Peace Prize, the award was created by the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center to recognize contemporary individuals who by their actions and personal examples reflect the spirit and courageous actions of the "Conductors" of the Underground Railroad. The Conductors risked their lives and livelihoods to help those who were enslaved escape through the secret network of houses, churches, and barns known as the Underground Railroad. In 1998, the award was endowed by a $1 million gift from the Firstar Corporation (Today known as US Bank).

"The award is presented at the International Freedom Conductor (IFCA) Gala, a black-tie awards celebration of human rights and individual courage on an international scale. The first honoree (1998) was Mrs. Rosa Parks, the mother of the modern-day Civil Rights movement. The second recipient (2000) was Bishop Desmond Tutu, Archbishop Emeritus of the Diocese of Cape Town in South Africa.

"Dr. Dorothy Irene Height and the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Center for Human Rights are recipients for the 2003 International Freedom Conductor Award. Both Dr. Height and the Kennedy Memorial Center, represented by Ethel Kennedy, were honored on October 4, 2003 at a gala award ceremony for their contributions to freedom and human rights across the world."

Clinton and Bush I raised money together for tsunami victims and Hurricane Katrina relief.

'Best President' Poll of U.S. Historians Ranks Clinton Over Reagan

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- A poll of 250 historians and history professors rates Democrat Bill Clinton as a better recent president than Republican Ronald Reagan. Some respondents considered Reagan "great," a rating that no one bestowed on Clinton. Others viewed the conservative two-termer from California as a divisive national figure, and their votes pulled down Reagan's overall ranking. Professor Tim Blessing at Alverina College has been conducting the surveys of historians for years, and the school released his latest results this weekend.

Blessing, along with a colleague who analyzed the data, said no one running for president in 2008 seems to embody Reagan's conservative credentials, and they suggest the cycle of Reagan-style conservatism in national politics appears to have ebbed.

Alverina is a Catholic school affiliated with the Franciscan order, and the report issued by the Reading, Pa., college about the survey is as follows:

"Ask historians to rank the presidents and you will get varied opinions. Limit their choices to only the four most recent occupants of the White House and interesting patterns emerge. In a recent poll, more than 250 college and university history professors placed former President Bill Clinton as the best president of the last quarter century, Ronald Reagan as the second best, followed by Jimmy Carter and then the first President Bush. (The current president was excluded since his term of office had not yet ended.)

"Dr. Tim H. Blessing, Professor of History and Political Science, has conducted presidential polls for many years as part of the Presidential Performance Study. Since 2001, he has been joined in ranking presidents by Dr. Anne Skleder, Associate Professorof Psychology. They asked historians, all with doctoral degrees and allteaching full-time at a college or university, to rank these four presidents as 'great,' 'near great,' 'above average,' 'average,' 'below average,' or 'failing.' Using this system, Clinton received the highest average score, though no historian ranked him as one of the 'Greats.'

"Reagan garnered a number of 'great' marks, but also received numerous 'below average' marks, dragging down his score and indicating that he is still a polarizing figure. For Carter and Bush, 'losing the confidence of the people' during their terms contributed to their trailing numbers.

"'A one-term president does nothave the time to collect successes and move up in the ranks," Blessing and Skleder note. They also suspect that the waning popularity of the current President Bush may have caused a slight 'suppression' of his father's ratings. Likewise Carter's rating might have been still lower had it not been for a 'lift due to his post-presidential humanitarian activities.'

"What makes a president rank above others is how well they embody the hopes and dreams of the people. 'Sometimes, people don't know what theywant,' Blessing said. 'What presidents mean to the people is more than the sum of their policies. Presidents who can voice the people's hopes and ideals and help them give voice to their aspirations' rank highest. Even though Reagan ranks behind Clinton, Blessing says the Reagan presidency was one of the frequent 'revolutions' that occur in American politics. 'Significant presidents, such as Andrew Jackson, Abraham Lincoln and both Roosevelts 'set a style and create goals that linger long past their presidency.'

Subsequent presidents seek to capture that spirit until,years later, the people seek another dramatic change. Blessing and Skleder observe this is the 26th year of the Reagan presidency, as the elder Bush, Clinton, and the current President Bush have each campaigned on elements leftover from the Reagan platform.

'The Reagan presidency's legacyhas pretty much run its course,' they state. 'We cannot expect the policies and approaches of a very different era to be continued into this one.' None of the candidates in the race for next year's presidential nominations appear to be promoting Reaganesque ideals. While Blessing and Skleder are unsure whether the American electorate is moving strongly to the left or will find some moderate middle ground, they are sure that 'the cycle for the Reaganesque style of conservatism is over.'